Chapter Twenty

Cardian

It took longer than I estimated it would to find a live feeding kit and there was no way I was letting Terrick sink his fangs into me with as tired as he was. I was willing to give enough blood to stabilize him back to normal, but not enough that I'd be on my ass for days. Blood donation between vampires was a delicate line.

Eventually, I ended up on Duke's doorstep since most of the people who lived in his house were vampyric in one way or another. Duke answered the door cradling Duchess in one arm, grinning like a fool.

"Shhhh…." he mouthed, putting a finger against his lips, and then waving for me to follow him inside.

He led me all the way to the kitchen where he sat down in a rocking chair and waved for me to sit down at the table.

"She'll sleep through anything, but everyone else went back to bed and I don't want to wake up the kittens. They always shift and scream like they're starving when they wake up," Duke grinned. "Love Deliah and Lane, but they have some mouths on them. Everything okay at your house? No more dead animals roaming around the shed?"

"Not as far as we know, but we have been putting plates of flour out to try to keep them from breaking into the shed again. Scott wants to bake spirit bread, but he just doesn't have the energy yet. Speaking of energy," I started.

"Which of them needs more blood?" Duke asked.

"Terrick. He keeps feeding Scott and apparently, he's not replenishing himself enough. So, I'm trying to hunt down a live feeding kit."

"For who to feed him?" Duke asked.

"Me," I chuckled.

"Nope," he shook his head.

"Nope what?"

"Not you," Duke shook his head again.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Are you mostly having the bloodshakes or do you have a donor hiding in your suitcase?" Duke asked.

"The shakes, but I'm fine."

"Yeah, because you're not donating. Fortunately, when you and Dakota have kids, you won't have to worry about this," Duke said.

"I'll do what I have to," I said and meant it.

"I know, but you don't have to. Look, hold the baby for a minute and let me go talk to Syre. I'm an experienced donor and a damn good one. I'll take care of Terrick."

"Ummm… Aren't you a vampire too?" I asked him.

"Yeah, but I'm also wolf and dragon and the old gods only know what. Blood's more of a treat for me. I feed Syre here and there, but less now that he's not pregnant. If I would've thought about it, I would've offered to feed Scott too before this happened. Usually, Terrick would've been fine, but four kids is a big pregnancy. Here," he handed the baby to me. "I'll be right back. Syre's just downstairs. We're still practically living in the den."

The tiny baby weighed more than I would've guessed. She was a little warm ball in my arms, but somewhere inside her, whatever inner beast she inherited from her parents carried some weight. She blinked and stretched a tiny fist skyward. Soon, Dakota and I might be holding a kid of our own.

"Aren't you precious," I whispered to her. "Just a tiny precious baby, huh?"

"She is the most adorable kid anywhere," Duke said, walking back into the kitchen. "We're good to go after I run her back down to Syre."

I almost didn't want to give her back. There was something awe inspiring about how tiny babies were.